Porsche is collaborating with Way Ahead Technologies to develop the Virtual Roads project, which will allow drivers of Porsche models equipped with this technology to digitize their favorite routes and roads and turn them into a video game. All this can be done quickly and easily with the help of a smartphone behind the windshield and a special application.
Artificial intelligence and 3D conversion
In concrete terms, the smartphone serves to register the traveled route and to model it in 3D using specific software, which can then be used to transfer the traveled route in a virtual world. This process would have the advantage of being extremely fast and intuitive, as it would take only 1% of the time normally required to perform the same operation with equipment equipped with high-precision lasers, as is the case, for example, for the video game development.
This is made possible by artificial intelligence, which can recognize landscapes such as crash barriers, trees and other characteristic elements along the road. The software then uses this data to model it in 3D as faithfully and quickly as possible.
“After several years of development work, our software is now so advanced that it can digitize routes in less than an hour for virtual roads up to eight kilometers in length, depending on the complexity of the route. We are currently looking at other options and functions as well.” (Roger Rueegg, Way Ahead Technologies)
Ready for video games
The advantage of this new technology is that the files created, one for each recorded and modeled road, would be compatible with many video games, including the famous Assetto Corsa. Porsche drivers will then be able to access the virtual world and drive the roads they have enjoyed so much in real life.
In addition, even routes that are closed to the general public or only open on certain days can be discovered and shared behind the wheel of a Porsche. This is an innovation that will further enrich the content of certain games, while also creating a ‘virtual’ community of Porsche drivers that transcends the boundaries and limitations of the real world.
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